Origen of Alexandria was born around 185 AD into a Christian household—rare in an age when most believers came to faith as adults. His father Leonides taught him Scripture alongside Greek literature, instilling in him a love for God's Word that would shape the entire early Church.
But it was tragedy that forged Origen's faith into unshakeable steel.
Father Martyred for Faith
In 202 AD, when Origen was just seventeen, Emperor Septimius Severus unleashed persecution against Christians. Leonides was arrested and imprisoned, awaiting execution. The young Origen, burning with zeal, determined to join his father in martyrdom. He wrote to Leonides in prison: "Take care not to change your mind on our account."
His mother, desperate to save her son, resorted to hiding his clothes—the only way she could keep him from rushing to the authorities and confessing his faith. Origen was forced to remain behind as his father was beheaded for the name of Christ.
Living Martyrdom in Alexandria
That moment became the crucible of Origen's life. Unable to die for Christ, he resolved instead to live entirely for Him. The family's property was confiscated, leaving his mother and six younger brothers destitute. At eighteen, Origen became head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria, teaching new converts the faith for which his father had died.
He adopted a life of extreme asceticism—fasting, sleeping on the bare ground, walking barefoot—as a kind of living martyrdom. "What my father purchased with his blood," he seemed to say, "I will honor with my life."
Greatest Teacher of Early Church
For decades, Origen became the Church's greatest teacher, producing over two thousand works of biblical commentary, theology, and apologetics. John Anthony McGuckin calls him "the greatest genius the early church ever produced."
Martyrdom Finally Comes
In 250 AD, under the Decian persecution, Origen finally received his long-awaited crown. Arrested and tortured mercilessly, he was stretched on the rack, threatened with fire, and endured every torment the authorities could devise. They refused to let him die, hoping to break his spirit and force a public recantation.
Origen never wavered. After years of torture, he was finally released, his body broken but his faith triumphant. He died around 254 AD from his injuries—a delayed martyr who had spent his entire life preparing for the moment his father had embraced decades before.
